On Aug. 13, 1987, Billy Slagle, now 42, broke into the home of a 40-year-old woman in Cuyahoga County while she was babysitting two children, ages eight and 10. The children escaped. The woman died from 17 stab wounds. Slagle was found hiding in the house with a pair of bloody scissors. The Ohio State Supreme Court scheduled Slagle's execution for September 20, 2011. He has been on death row since May 13, 1988.

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Vengence is mine saith the Lord...who are we to question the instruments used to carry it out?

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost delayed the scheduled July 19 execution of death row inmate Kenneth Wayne Smith after finding Ohio enforces some of its execution policies inconsistently.

"Ohio pays lip service to standards it then often ignores without valid reasons," Frost wrote, "sometimes with no physical ramification and sometimes with what has been described as messy if not botched executions."

According to the governor, the postponement will give the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction the needed time to implement changes to the execution protocol mandated by the judge's ruling.

Carlo LoParo, spokesman for the correction department, said it is in the process of drafting more comprehensive policies and practices in light of the court decision.

The draft is not yet available to the public but is expected to be completed in time for the next scheduled execution, which is that of inmate Billy Slagle on September 20, 2011.

On Tuesday, the Parole Board unanimously recommended against clemency for Slagle to the governor. He was convicted of the murder of a woman in 1987.???Slagle was originally scheduled for an 8/24/11 clemency hearing???

(Writing and reporting by Jim Leckrone; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Greg McCune)

The state of Ohio has updated its execution policy to require that all lethal injections be reviewed by an assistant appointed by the prisons department's director.

Prisons department spokesman Carlo LoParo says a "comprehensive rewriting" of the policy was filed Friday with U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost. The judge had halted a July execution, citing "haphazard application" of certain death penalty protocols in the state. The ruling led Gov. John Kasich to postpone an August execution to give the state time to address Frost's concerns.

LoParo says the reviews are intended to ensure policy is followed and provide recommendations for improvement.

He says changes also bolster required documentation and clarify instructions.

The policy is to go into effect Sept. 18, two days before the state's next scheduled execution.Source: Associated Press, August 20, 2011

You can start counting them off again Slagle!

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Vengence is mine saith the Lord...who are we to question the instruments used to carry it out?

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man condemned to die for fatally stabbing his neighbor 24 years ago could be the next inmate put to death following a pause in state executions.

Billy Slagle received the death sentence for stabbing Mari Anne Pope 17 times in her Cleveland home after a 1986 break-in. Earlier this summer, a judge's criticism of Ohio's death penalty policies delayed executions scheduled for July and August, but the state has now updated its rules in response.

Slagle's attorneys are asking the judge to delay Slagle's execution on the same grounds: The state doesn't follow its own rules when putting people to death.

U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost planned a hearing on Slagle's arguments Sept. 13, a week before his scheduled Sept. 20 execution.

On Wednesday, Slagle's attorney asked the Ohio Parole Board to recommend that Slagle be spared. Federal public defender Joe Wilhelm argued that mercy is justified because Slagle was only 18 when he committed the crime and was a chronic alcoholic with a chaotic upbringing who experienced a blackout the night of the killing and has no memory of it.

Since going to prison and being away from alcohol and drugs, Slagle has been a model inmate, Wilhelm said in a filing with the parole board.

"Billy suffered from the stunting effects of drugs and alcohol when he committed his crime," Wilhelm said. "He had no clue as to why he killed Mari Anne."

Wilhelm also argues that Slagle, an American Indian of Chippewa heritage, suffered from a genetic predisposition to alcoholism that has been linked to Native Americans.

The state argues that the jury and numerous appeals court judges have reviewed Slagle's case and upheld his conviction and death sentence. Slagle was aware enough to admit targeting Pope for burglary because he knew she lived alone, and stopped the attack to hide in a closet when a police officer shone a flashlight through a window, the office of Cuyahoga County Prosecutor William Mason said in its filing with the parole board.

"Other than repackaging and rehashing the same failed claims for lenience, Slagle offers no reason why this board should reach a different conclusion," the filing said.

Gov. John Kasich will have the final say.

Frost's July ruling on the state's execution procedures took a harsh view of how Ohio carries out the death penalty.

"It is the policy of the State of Ohio that the state follows its written execution protocol, except when it does not," Frost wrote. "This is nonsense."

Frost said the state fails to document the preparation of its lethal drugs and fails to always check an inmate's veins to see if the prisoner can receive an intravenous injection.

The judge also said the state doesn't always have the required two members of the medical team present and doesn't control who participates in an execution.

The prisons department calls changes announced last week a "comprehensive rewriting" of state execution policy.

The new rules will require post-execution reviews of all lethal injections and a physical evaluation of the condemned person's veins three weeks prior to execution.

The policy says the new procedures are to be "strictly followed" and the warden or prisons director must be notified of any reasons for deviation, with any variations requiring the director's approval.

Slagle, 42, is scheduled to die on Sept. 20 in the execution chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

In his interview with the Parole Board, Slagle said he was sorry for his crime. Yet he could not explain his violent actions because he said he is normally a shy, non-confrontational person. He asked for mercy because he said his execution would not achieve anything.

Slagle is on death row for repeatedly stabbing his next-door neighbor, Mari Anne Pope, with scissors during a burglary attempt. The coroner reported Pope was stabbed 17 times.

Slagle was 19 when he was convicted. His crime resonated throughout the city because police found a broken rosary at the side of Pope's bed, where she prayed for mercy when Slagle tried unsuccessfully to rape her.

Pope woke up and started screaming when Slagle entered her bedroom, Slagle told police. He then picked up her sewing scissors and stabbed her.

Two Years??? Two Years!! Fortunes are made and lost in less than 2 years. That is such disgusting crap and federal judges need to keep their snotty little (BIG ASS) noses out, especially since the SCOTUS has given the all is good to states. Not only is Ohio, not Little Texas, I'm afraid Ohio is sounding like California Junior.

Dee

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The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money - Margaret ThatcherThe most terrifying words in the English language: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." - Ronald Reagan

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Gov. John Kasich announced Friday he was postponing the Sept. 20 execution of a man sentenced to die for the stabbing death of a Cleveland woman, while a lawsuit over the state's death penalty procedure is pending in federal court.

The delay of Billy Slagle's execution until Aug. 7, 2013, marked the third time in the last two months a condemned Ohio inmate has received a temporary reprieve.

Kasich's announcement came one day after the Ohio Parole Board recommended against mercy for Slagle, who was convicted of stabbing neighbor Mari Anne Pope 17 times during a burglary in 1986.

"We appreciate that the Department of Corrections and Governor Kasich recognize the serious problems with Ohio execution procedures cannot be easily or quickly fixed," said Vicki Werneke, a federal public defender who represents Slagle.

U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost had planned a Sept. 13 hearing on Slagle's request for a delay while Frost considers arguments that the state's execution policies are haphazard and applied inconsistently.

Following Kasich's announcement, Slagle's attorneys withdrew their request for a delay.

"This twisted psychopath should have been executed 15 years ago," Mason said. "With all due respect to the governor, the biggest criticism of capital punishment in Ohio is the unnecessary delays."

Slagle's attorneys say mercy is justified for Slagle because he was a chronic alcoholic with a chaotic upbringing who was only 18 at the time of the slaying, the minimum age to receive the death penalty in Ohio.

In July, Frost ripped the state's execution procedures, calling it nonsense and embarrassing that Ohio fails to follow its own policies in carrying out executions.

Last month, Ohio submitted updated policies that require strict adherence to the rules and a post-execution review of procedures.

In explaining Friday's decision, Kasich's office said in a news release that the prisons department continues to train its employees on revised execution procedures.

Frost's order delayed the execution of Kenneth Smith, who was scheduled to die July 19 for the slayings of husband and wife Lewis and Ruth Ray in their Hamilton home during a 1995 robbery. Smith's execution has not been rescheduled.

Following Frost's ruling, Kasich then delayed the scheduled Aug. 16 execution of 37-year-old Brett Hartman until Nov. 13, 2012. Hartman was sentenced to death for the death of 46-year-old Winda Snipes. She was stabbed more than 100 times, then had her hands cut off.